No Time For Love
by Firestar360
Summary: After a brutal rejection from Sakura, Naruto finally gives up on Sakura and proceeds to focus solely on training to be the best ninja that he can be. How different will he turn out by focussing on his training rather than trying to prove himself to others, making friendships, and going out with Sakura. This will be mostly AU with some parts of the story being canon.
1. chapter 1

It was the end of class in the ninja academy of Konoha and one blonde haired boy was up to his same old antics.

"Sakura-chan! Would you please go on a date with me?" Naruto asked with hope shining in his eyes that she would actually say yes.

Naruto had asked the pink haired girl this question so much that it became apart of his daily routine. Naruto had been vying for the girl's affection since the first week of the academy. But the pink haired girl was in love with another and as such was quick to shut him down every single time. But this wouldn't stop Naruto who was already used to being rejected by the majority of his village.

But would soon learn that this was the worst possible day and time to annoy and ask Sakura that question. You see, Sakura was having a bad day. She hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before leading her to over sleep and almost end up late to class, her hair refused to be managed making her big forehead extra noticeable, she had forgotten her homework in her rush to get to the academy, she missed breakfast, and Sasuke had once again rejected her affections. But all of these problems still wouldn't excuse what she was about too say to Naruto.

Sakura who had been trying to keep her temper in check finally snapped. She slowly turned her red with anger face towards Naruto and proceeded to give him hell.

"STOP ANNOYING ME YOU BAKA! I'VE TOLD YOU A MILLION TIMES ALREADY. I WILL NOT GO ON A DATE WITH YOU! I WILL NEVER LOVE YOU! YOU ARE STUPID, USELESS, AND WEAK! AND IT'S NOT JUST ME WHO THINKS THAT ABOUT YOU. EVERYONE IN THIS WHOLE CLASS THINKS YOU ARE USELESS! EVEN IN THE WHOLE FREAKIN ACADEMY! IN FACT, NO ONE IN THIS VILLAGE WOULD EVER BRING THEMSELVES TO LOVE OR ADMIRE A LONELY ORPHAN LIKE YOU! I BET EVEN YOUR PARENTS IF YOU EVEN HAD ANY WOULD LOVE YOU! SO JUST DO ME A FAVOR FOR ONCE IN YOUR SAD, SORRY LIFE AND LEAVE ME ALONE!!!"

Sakura panted slightly from her long tirade and finally turned away from him.

The class was so silent that you could here a pen drop. Everyone was shocked at Sakura's words. Sure she rejected him all the time, but never so harshly. Even Iruka-sensei was at a loss for words.

Naruto was the most shocked one of all. Tears threatened to over flow and fall from his darkened blue eyes, but he wouldn't let them at least not here in front of the rest of his peers.

Iruka finally came to his senses and yelled. "Alright settle down everyone as you all know this will be are last class for this semester and we will be going on break for two months before the return for your last year of academy. So stay safe and train hard. Class dismissed."

As soon as Iruka said that Naruto dashed out of the class, ignoring Iruka's call to stay behind.

Slowly the rest of the class began to leave as well.

Various students from ninja clans passed Sakura on the way out with words like "rude" and "disrespectful". She started to leave herself when a blonde girl with pale blue eyes stopped her.

"That was harsh even for you, forehead. Making fun of him for being an orphan and having no family was crossing the line."

Sakura just shrugged feeling unrepentant. "I reject him all the time so what makes this time so different?"

Ino just shook her head and walked away.

Meanwhile a girl with blue hair and near white eyes stared out of the window at Naruto's retreating form. "Naruto-kun, I care for you", whispered Hinata.


	2. Chapter 2

After Iruka said that class was dismissed Naruto dashed out of the class room with a heavy heart.

He ran down the hallways, out of the academy, and past the parents who glared at him while waiting to take their children home.

Sakura was completely right. He was weak and usseless. He was the class dead-last after all, which meant he had the lowest scores and was at the bottom of the class rankings.

What was he thinking asking Sakura of all people out. She had the highest scores out of all the other girls in the class and was the smartest student in the class over all.

It didn't matter anymore anyways because he would never ask her or any other girl out again. His heart couldn't take anymore rejection. From now on it would just be training and no relaxing or pranking for that matter. He would come back to class different with a new look and different mindset. No more being a weak, usseless dead-last!

Naruto kept running until he stopped in the outskirts of the village where there was nothing but abandoned houses.

He decided to stay in one of these house away from all the noise and people in the city. He ended up choosing a medium sized home with a stone gate around it holding a symbol of a crane in the middle. The outside of the house had many traps set to scare away trespassers, but not Naruto. He was the pranking king so making traps was his bread and butter.

He managed to get through many traps surrounding the house and pick the lock on the door to get in. Once inside he looked around the house. With the many traps set he could only guess that this house once belonged to a small shinobi clan. The house was abandoned and covered in dust so he had to guess that they had all died out.

Even with all the dirt and dust lying around the house still looked nice. The furniture had colors of blues and whites. There where paintings of what could only be the previous family and birds, specifically cranes. There was a living room, a dining room, kitchen, tea room, a bathroom, and a storage room on the first floor. On the second floor was five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a training room, a weapons room, and a small library. This house was way better than his ratty, small apartment. He decided that he would move all his belongings to the his and stay here permanently since no one else lived in the house. The only thing he would have to change would be the kitchen appliances.

With that settled he proceeded to look over the scrolls in the library. If he was going to train seriously he would have to hit the scrolls. He ended up choosing an armful of scrolls on chakra control, chakra manipulation, a clone jutsu called the wind clone jutsu, a taijutsu style called the Fujian White Crane, a giant scroll with kanji for summoning and crane on it, and scrolls on flexibility and balance.

He took those scrolls, settled on ground, and began to read. It was time to get to work.


	3. Chapter 3

Naruto panted on the ground of the training room, utterly exhausted but still willing to do more.

He had gone through a hard week of training. The first day saw him making a training schedule that had him waking up and starting the day at 6 a.m.

Through the day he would start off with breakfast which consisted of some food he had found inside special scrolls found in a food pantry. He couldn't believe it the food tasted good and didn't seem old. How was that even possible? He guessed it had something to do do with the special markings on the scroll. Maybe he would find out how to make his on later on.

The first two hours of training saw him doing morning stretches, flexibility exercises, and balance training.

For the next two hours he did some chakra control and chakra manipulation exercises.

For another two hours he learned the basic katas of the Fujian White Crane taijutsu style.

It was an interesting style, its literal name being the eternal spring white crane fist. It is was known for its elegance. In it the fighter imitates a bird's pecking or flapping of wings. The entire system of fighting was developed from observing a crane's movements, methods of attack and spirit.

The most recognizable technique was the crane stance, where you stand on one leg and open your arms like a crane spreading its wings. That stance was commonly used stance in kung fu and tai chi forms, but is not a practical technique for fighting in kung fu except by advanced practitioners. Crane style techniques that are more often seen in fighting are the white crane wing, for blocking, and the crane beak, for striking.

To Naruto the style sounded more defensive than offensive so he reminded himself to look at the library again for another technique to combine the style with.

For now he practiced this style and tai chi for two hours.

After this he had a lunch and a two hour break to just chill out.

After that he meditated for an hour or so.

Then he did target practice witch some kunai, shuriken, and senbon for an hour.

After this he read a scroll about different weapons that ninja used and multiple clever ways to use them for an hour like: smoke bombs, makibishi spikes, exploding notes, fans, swords, gauntlets, puppets, umbrellas, scythes, and flash bombs.

The fans, umbrellas, puppets, scythe, and gauntlets weren't really used in Konoha like some other villages that they were used by. He might try to learn to use one of the forms of fighting someday to be unique but finding scrolls on the technique or even a good sensei would be hard as no one seemed to use the forms here.

After words he read about the history of the clan, their journey Konoha, allies, enemies, unique techniques they created, and how they slowly dwindled in numbers. He would look into their techniques later, for now he needed to learn the basics.

He also read about the history of Konoha which ended before the Kyuubi massacre which is when he guesses is when the last member died.

After this he practiced the wind clone jutsu that he learned pretty well considering how hard it was for him to learn the academy level bunshin clone jutsu but after reading about chakra control he learned something. He appently had large reserves. This made it harder for to do chakra control and low level jutsu. He would probably never learn genjutsu, healing, or the basic bunshin jutsu because of this. That's okay though because the wind clone jutsu was better. The clones could actually hit things and when they dispersed they let out strong bursts of wind. This would be useful in a fight. He also learned D rank wind jutsu for an hour.

After all that he had dinner and went to bed. All in all he basically did 12 hours of training if you included reading the scrolls.

Everyone at the academy wouldn't know what hit them when he returned.


	4. Chapter 4

Two months later the break was over and everyone started showing up for class again. One by one students trickled in and sat in their seats.

The most noise came from Inova and Sakura busting through the door and fighting to get a seat beside their beloved Sasuke-kun. Everything stayed the same and deeper nothing had changed. That was a lie.

One minute before the start of class and role call the door opened once more to reveal a certain blonde. This blonde was different from the last time his peers had seen him. Gone was the bright eye sore orange jump suit and wide smile.

In its place was a stoic looking blonde who wore a white short sleevd t-shirt with a hood attached, black wrist bands, black baggy pants with black tape tightening them around his ankles, and black sandals. Also had two black pouches attached to each leg to carry weapons.

"Nani?!", someone exclaimed.

The blonde just ignored the looks of shock on everyone's faces and took a seat beside Hinata who blushed deeply.

"Alright class, settle down. Now, let's get started," Iruka-sensei called.

As Iruka-sensei started roll call Hinata complimented Naruto on his new look.

"I l-like your n-n-new look Naruto"

Naruto turned to her with a surprised look before he replied. "Thank you Hinata"

Hinata barely ever talked to anyone in class, let alone him. In fact all his interactions with her in the academy was her just looking at him and blushing as red as a tomato. Weird. He just didn't understand girls. At least this one wasn't a Sasuke fangirl.

After role call ended class started and Iruka started teaching boring lectures that Naruto had already read about.

Instead of falling asleep like Shikamaru, Naruto decided to do something convenient. Naruto pulled out a small scroll that listed different types of bombs and there uses. There were flash bombs, smoke bombs, special chili pepper bombs, explosive tag balls...

Before he knew it the lecture was over and Iruka was regaining everyone's attention.

"All right class today we're gonna have a sparring session to make assessments on everyone"

The sparring session was just like any other spar session from before. There was Choji vs Shikamaru which ended in a tie, Kiba vs another classmate who he decimated, Shino vs another boy with the clan heir coming out on top...

The fight between Ino and Sakura was utterly pathetic, but Sakura got lucky and won by throwing a particularly hard punch which Ino didn't have time to dodge.

The fight between Hinata and a somewhat skilled fangirl was interesting. In the fight Hinata used the gentle fist style which was said to be one of the hardest styles to defend oneself from, especially since the clan who made it kept their style guarded and you couldn't even learn it properly unless you had the Byakugan dojutsu.

In the fight Hinata showed a rarely seen strong side to herself and won the fight. Her style was good, but seemed a bit shaky and uncertain. This girl had potential and could go far, all she needed was some much needed confidence. Maybe he could help with that.

The spars continued and names were called until there were only two left. Him and Sasuke.

He and Sasuke both stepped into the ring and made the signs before we started. Sasuke's many fangirls were screaming up a storm in the background.

"You go Sasuke!"

"Show him whose boss!"

"Sasuke-kun is so cool!"

"Sasuke is so gonna kick your butt!"

Sasuke simply shook his head before turning his gaze towards him and smirking. "Ready to lose again dobe?"

Naruto smirked back at him. "Oh I think this fight is gonna turn out a bit differently"

"You can change your hair, change your clothes, and even change the way you act. But, it'll never change who you really are. The class loser and deadlast."

With his speech over Sasuke backed away from him and settled into a fighting stance with Naruto doing the same.

He wouldn't let Sasuke's words affect him. He'd heard them all before, except he was different now.

It was time to knock this duck headed emo kid down a peg.


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto and Sasuke stared each other down, waiting for Iruka to start the fight.

"Ready!" Iruka raised his hand. "Fight!", he yelled, bring his hand down.

The opponents simply stared at each, waiting for each other to make the first move. Naruto waited in a stance that left little openings for the opponent because his new crane style was mostly defensive and worked that way. Sasuke waited because Naruto usually fought brash and sloppy which always cost him the fight.

When it looked like no one was budging Kiba shouted. "Quit staring and start fighting! We're not getting any younger!"

Sasuke finally got out position and dashed at Naruto, intending to . Naruto saw this and immediately blocked him.

Sasuke followed this up with a sharp roundhouse kick, but the blonde swayed to the side to dodge it at the last second.

Sasuke tried to jab Naruto, but the blonde used a wing block with his arm to come from the outside and block his right arm. Naruto pulled the arm down toward his stomach and then struck him in the eyes with his hands folded similarly like a right crane beak.

Sasuke stumbled backed with a curse, coughing at his eyes. When Sasuke's sight cleared up he dashed at Naruto.

Naruto dodged Sasuke's attacks left and right, when the match was about to end Naruto evaded a punch from Sasuke and moved in his guard.

He circled his hand over and on top of Sasuke's wrist, giving him control of the Sasuke's arm to yank his arm downward, planting Sasuke face first into the ground.

Sasuke planted his hand on the ground and started to spin, propelling himself back to his feet.

"Naruto winner, 1-0" Iruka announced.

The black haired student glared at the blonde. "Your lucky the match ended dobe." The brooding boy then turned and walked away.

Sasuke's crowd of fan girls were speechless. They couldn't believe that their precious Sasuke-kun lost and all of them started shouting with anger.

"I bet he cheated!"

"Sasuke must not be feeling well today."

"Sasuke just let you win idiot!"

Naruto ignored all their comments and walked back to the classroom.


	6. Chapter 6

After class ended Naruto left and caught up to Hinata as she made her way back to her compound.

"Wait! Hinata can I talk to you for a sec?"

Hinata looked at Naruto, surprised that he acknowledged her before she nodded.

"I just wanted to complement you on your fighting skills," Naruto said.

Hinata blushed heavily. "Thank you Naruto, but my fighting skills aren't that good," she said looking down in embarrassment and shame.

"My father critisizes my lack of skills all the time. I-I-I can't even b-b-beat my own little sister in a fight," the pale eyed girl said.

"And why is that?" Naruto asked while leaning against a tree. It seemed that this conversation was gonna take a while.

"Well truth be told, I-I'm afraid to really hurt her," Hinata answered.

Seeing Naruto's questioning gaze she explained herself further.

"Y-you see before m-my mother passed on she made me promise to always protect my sister. So whenever my father and the clan elders make us spar against each other I always lose to her."

Naruto clenched his teeth. He hated when people didn't take their opponents seriously and held out on them. "So your holding back on her?"

Hinata nodded saddly. "My sister barely even speaks to me now. She hates me."

"Well if I was her I'd hate you too!" Naruto shouted, not liking Hinata's little pity party one bit.

Hinata looked at him, shocked that he would say such a thing.

"You can't just hold back on her. If I was her I'd want you to fight me with everything you have. It's like you don't trust her. Do you think she is too weak to hold herself in a real fight against you?!" Naruto questioned.

"What? No, she has great potential! My father even saw that the first day she started to train. I'm just protecting her!" Hinata said franticly.

"How are protecting her? I've read about the pressures of being a clan heir. They have to spend more time training and maturing quickly to lead their clan. If you keep letting her show you up then your father will make her his successor instead. Is that what you want? To have your sister's childhood taken away from her. To burden her with all that responsibliltiy. Come on Hinata, I thought you wanted to protect her. I thought you were her big sister."

"I am her big sister!!!" She yelled before breathing heavily with frustration.

This whole conversation was frustrating. She usually kept all her problems bottled up. Now it was all coming out.

Naruto saw this and gave her hug.

She stiffened before relaxing in his hold. "I just want to be good sister," Hinata said softly.

"Then act like one," Naruto replied in a softer tone before letting go of her and looking away awkwardly after realizing how long he'd been holding onto her.

"Show your sister and the rest of your clan what you're really made of and for Kami's sake please show some confidence and stop stuttering! Your father might not see your potential, but I do! I believe in you Hinata Hyūga!" Naruto yelled before running off with away.

Hinata blushed and squealed inside her head. Her crush had just hugged her and told her that he believed in her. This had to be a dream.

Shaking her head a bit she focused on the new task at hand. Getting stronger for her sister and her clan.

She would be the best ninja that she could be. She would get her father to acknowledge her and gain her sister's trust back.

With that thought she ran back to her clan's compound. She had some training to do!


	7. Chapter 7

The rest of the week saw Naruto training with Hinata. She had asked him to assist her with her training the day after their conversation.

Naruto accepted because he knew this could benefit him in the future as she was the heiress to Konoha's most respected ninja clan.

He was at a loss on how to help improve her training other than sparring with her so he asked her about the training she did with her clan. She had told him the basics of the jūken fighting style, how the byakugan worked, and how the hyūga were known to have excellent chakra control.

He decided to get her to bring scrolls on chakra control with her so they could go over it together as he also needed to work on his chakra control.

He planned on helping her master chakra control. It would be easier for her to do as her reserves were way smaller than his. Smaller reserves made chakra easier to control.

They both practiced and learned the tree walking and water walking exercises with her accomplishing the tasks much faster than Naruto.

They had these meet ups every other day as Hinata still had her training with her clan.

They had first met up for training at different Konoha training grounds, but seeing at how often had to leave when a genin team came and took over they moved it to the Kijūki compound.

He had found out the name of the clan and it was Kijūki which just so happened to translate to the word crane.

He had trusted her enough to show her where he lived and she didnt betray his trust. Although she did suggest telling the Hokage were he lived so the man could know were to find him in case of emergencies.

Her suggestion wasn't needed though because right as they left class one day, an anbu member showed up and had him report to the Hokage immediately.

He told Hinata this and apologized for having to cancel which she waved off. She explained that she had to spar with her sister today anyways. He told her to fight with everything she had before leaving with the anbu man.


	8. Chapter 8

Once they arrived to the Hokage's office the anbu bowed to the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama, Uzumaki-san is here as you have requested."

Sarutobi nodded in acknowledgement. "Thank you, you may leave now."

The anbu nodded before he shunshined away.

With that over the Hokage turned to Naruto. "Hello Naruto-kun. How have you been? More importantly were have you been? I haven't heard from you in two whole months!"

Naruto shrugged. "Training Hokage-sama."

Since when did Naruto address him with his proper title? Seeing that the boy wasn't going to elaborate further Sarutobi continued. "Naruto you were missing for two months and suddenly showed up with a new attitude and look. I was worried that something bad happened to you."

Seeing the Hokage show true and genuine concern and worry for him made Naruto decide to tell the old man the truth.

"The truth is that I ran to the outskirts of the village two months ago after having some hard to accept truths made clear to me." Naruto said with his head bowed as he recalled the day that he had his heart broken by his long time crush.

"What do you mean Naruto?" Sarutobi asked with apprehension. What if someone told Naruto about the Kyuubi? He had to calm down, he didn't know that for sure, but it would explain the attitude change.

"I mean that my former crush, Sakura Haruno, made some things clear to me. She that I was a stupid and weak orphan that no one could ever love."

"Naruto that's not true-"

Naruto interrupted him. "And you know what she was right. I am an orphan and everyone in the village either openly hates me or ignores me for some reason that I can't figure out. Two months ago I was weak and simple minded, thinking that if I became the Hokage then everyone would have to accept me, but I was wrong. That dream was childish and naive. They would have to accept me before I could even be considered for the title of Hokage. So I'll abandon this future Hokage dream, for now at least until I am stronger. Maybe the rest of Konoha will acknowledge me then, maybe not. Either way I no longer care for others opinions of me." Naruto said all of this with finality before he continued.

"You want to know where I have been for the past two months? Well, I have been training in the former home of the deceased Kijūki clan."

Sarutobi blinked. He hadnt been expecting that answer. "But how? Their clan house was heavily guarded with traps and seals. Even the jonins couldn't get past their traps."

"Come on sir, I'm not known as the king of pranks and the number one most unpredictable brat nothing." Naruto said with a bit of exasperation.

The Hokage nodded with understanding. The boy was known for managing to escape chunin, jonin, and even some anbu all the while wearing a bright orange jump suit that no one could miss. "Do you wish to make the house your own?"

Naruto nodded. "I'll even pay rent money and eventually buy the whole house when I'm finally able to take missions."

The Hokage agreed. "Seeing as you are the only one ever to manage to bypass the clan's traps I'll allow you to stay and use their jutsu seeing as the clan is long gone and Konoha needs that clan's skills out on the field again. I will have to bring this up with the council but rest assured you will be allowed to keep the house. You can leave now Naruto that's all I wanted to know."

Naruto give him a small smile before leaving his office.

The Hokage sighed looking upwards. "Oh Minato how your son has suffered. I am truly sorry."


	9. Chapter 9

Meanwhile over at the Hyūga compound Hinata was getting dressed in her training clothes to spar with her sister.

The Hyūga elders wanted to evaluate her abilities and test her worth against her sister to see who would be best suited for the title Hyūga heiress.

Once she was dressed she went to the training area were the fight would take place. Her father, sister, and the elders were already there waiting for her. A few other Hyūga were there too so that they could use the sparring courtyard afterwards.

Her sister looked rather bored, like the fight would be easy for her to win. Her sister would be sorely mistaken. Hinata planned on beating her and keeping her title. No more holding back.

Hinata and Hanabi both activated their byakuga and settled in a jūken stance.

Their father slashed his hand through the air giving the signal to start the fight.

Hanabi lunged forward with a palm strike which Hinata dodged with ease. Hinata gave a front kick to Hanabi's stomache which stunned her for a moment. Hinata had never hit her that hard before.

Hanabi regained her breath before jumping backwards to put space between them. Hinata dashed towards her to close the space between them.

Hanabi tried to deliver a strike to Hinata's chest but Hinata blocked it with her own strike. Hinata then kicked Hanabi's legs out from under her.

As Hanabi got up she attacked Hinata with a series of palm strikes. Hinata blocked them all.

Hanabi moved towards Hinata with her palm forward only to be easily deflected by her sister. Hanabi stumbled backwards before turning once again regaining her composure to settle in the Jyuuken stance. Hinata just faced her calm expression.

Hanabi breathed heavily while staring at Hinata who didn't appear to have broken a sweat during this whole ordeal.

Hiashi and the other Hyūga members stood to the side watching the fight in shock and awe. They had never seen Hinata put up such a fight.

Hanabi although weary and tired at this point made one last lunge at her sister.

Hinata turned and delivered a swift round house kick to the side of her sister's face sending her to the ground hard. It was an instant knock out.

Hinata breathed heavily as she stared at her sister's unconscious form on the ground. That had been hard for he to do, hurting her sister and all.

Hiashi came forward after having a few words with the elders. "It would seem that you won this fight while managing to suprise the elders." Hiashi said while signaling for a couple of members to carry Hanabi away to her room.

"I have never seen you fight this way. You have always fought with a form of restraint and hesitancy especially with your sister. What changed?" Hiashi asked with a small amount of curiosity showing.

Hinata looked at her father and willed herself not to stutter when she responded. "Truthfully a friend of mine brang some things to light about my character and challenged me to stop holding back when fighting Hanabi. I have been training with this friend who just so happens to be self taught and well trained. He can be unpredictable when it comes to taijutsu. I just took a page from his book." Hinata said this with confidence.

Her father gave her a small look of appraisal before speaking again. "I see. Well keep being unpredictable.I will allow you to keep training with this "friend" but from now on you will train with me. I will once again train you personally. Just know that I now expect even more from you since I now know that you have been holding back." Hiashi said before giving a slight nod to the elders and leaving.

-Many hours later-

Later on in the middle of the night Hanabi came bursting into Hinata's room.

Hinata put away the scroll on chakra control she had been studying. She had seen this confrontation coming. "What is it Hanabi?"

Hanabi glared at her with her hands on hips. "How did you beat me? A month ago I could have easily defeated you so how did you get so strong so fast?"

Hinata sighed. It was time to reveal the truth. "I have always been this strong sister. I admit that I have gotten faster because of training, but that is the only thing that has changed."

This shocked Hanabi and angered her even more. "So what, you always held back so that you could humiliate me even more when you finally decided to beat me?"

"Hanabi that's not what I meant-"

"I'm supposed to be your sister! Your little sister at that! What have I ever done to you to deserve this?!" Hanabi asked with her eyes starting to water with emotion.

Hinata got up and quickly moved forward to bring her sister in a tight embrace. "You didn't deserve that. I'm so sorry Hanabi. I never meant to humiliate you. I was only trying to keep good on a promise I agreed to long ago." Hinata in a low vioce before letting go of her sister.

"What are you talking about? What promise?" Hanabi asked now curious to know this promise that was made.

"It was a promise I made with our mother when she was still alive." Hinata responded.

Hanabi gasped with suprise. "Our mother?"

Hinata sighed again. "I didn't want to tell you this, but long ago, when you were born our mother made me promise to always protect you if she couldn't be there for you. I took this promise to heart, never truly beating you in our spars because I couldn't bring myself to truly harm you. I would have continued losing to you, but a friend of mine brought some light to the situation. He made me see that I was hindering you and only hurting you more which is not what I wanted. Hanabi, I never meant to push the burden of being clan the heiress on you. I hope you know that I only meant to do good by you."

Hanabi only stared at her for a moment. This was alot to process. "So your going to take your responsibilities seriously from now on?"

Hinata nodded hoping the Hanabi wouldn't be mad at her for taking control all of a sudden.

"Good, I never like the pressure from having to be the best at everything. I wasn't born first after all, that's your responsibility." Hanabi said this before leaving but before doing a complete 360 turn and giving a Hinata a hug so fast that she almost thought she imagined it.


	10. Chapter 10

-A few days later-

-Sarutobi POV-

Sarutobi was sitting at his desk somewhat relaxed with alot less paperwork to deal with. He had started using shadow clones to help him with his paperwork and sometimes just left one in charge of the office, but only if he had no important matters to attend to. It had been Naruto who brought up the idea when I noticed the piles of papers ever where. Sarutobi had nearly banged his own head against his desk for not thinking of using clones when he could have done that years ago. Thanking the boy immensely he quickly made two shadow clones that started their task of filing through all of the papers.

The man turned when there was a knock at the door. "You may enter."

His receptionist entered. "Sir, the council is ready for you."

Sarutobi nodded. "Excellent, I'll be on my way then."

The receptionist left and Sarutobi made a clone to finish up his paperwork before departing as well.

Sarutobi reached the meeting room and entered. All of the shinobi and citizen council was there including the elders. When he took his seat the meeting began.

"Hokage-sama, why have you called us here?" Asked Hiashi Hyūga.

"I have gathered everyone here to inform you all that the Tsuru clan compound has once again been occupied."

The shinobi side seemed shocked.

"But I thought the Tsuru clan died out. Who is this new member?" Asked Tsume Inuzuka.

"Who exactly are the Tsuru clan?" Asked one of the younger civilian councilmen.

"They were a minor shinobi clan that specialized in wind ninjutsu and even had a summoning contract with cranes. The last true member died during the Kyuubi attack. No one has been able to enter their compound until now." Sarutobi explained.

"So who is this new member? Are they a foreigner and distant relative who decided to join the village?" Asked a citizen member.

"This new member is not new to Konoha he has been apart of this village since he was born. The person who now occupies the compound is Naruto Uzumaki." Sarutobi answered.

The citizen council spoke out in outrage.

"How could you let him desecrate their land!"

"He doesn't deserve to live their!"

"We should make him leave and give all of the special techniques to Sasuke Uchiha!"

Sarutobi began to get annoyed with all the noise. Finally fed up he released some killing intent and yelled. "SILENCE!!!"

The room became so silent that one could hear a pen drop.

"First off, Naruto will not be giving away any techniques that he learns. I don't care how much you favor Sasuke Uchiha. He has his own clan techniques to learn. Second off, Naruto is not only the only one able to gain entry to the Tsuru clan compound, but he is also a distant relative to the clan." Said Sarutobi.

"How so?" Asked Shikaku Nara.

"His father, who I will not name for Naruto's saftey, came from a clan who were related to the Tsuru clan. Do not try to question me further about Naruto's parentage. That is all I will say on the matter." Sarutobi said.

The Council conceded and left it at that.

"You should also know that Naruto will become the head of the Tsuru clan along with two other clans when he turns 16 years old. He is the last living member of those clans so it is only right that he becomes head of those clans. Sasuke Uchiha will also take up head of his clan when he comes of age." Said Sarutobi.

The fact that Sasuke would become head of his clan appeased the citizen council and elders, but the fact that Naruto would be gaining so much power in the future angered them. They couldn't do anything about it since he was the sole heir.

"That is all I wanted to discuss. The meeting is now adjourned." Sarutobi said before leaving.

Sarutobi didn't stay to small talk. A Hokage's job was never done after all.


	11. Chapter 11

The years at the ninja academy went by quickly for Naruto. He moved up through the class ranks, going from dead last to somewhere in the middle. He could've become class rookie if he wanted to, but he wanted to draw less attention to himself. Being class rookie didn't mean anything out in the field. It just put a big target on your back and reminded fighting opponents to be weary of you and to keep their guard up. It would be safer to lure foes into a false sense of security and to take them by surprise. He wanted to have the reputation of being unpredictable.

Hinata also improved and could've beat Sakura for the top female spot, but chose to follow suit with what Naruto was doing. The two had become good friends with Hinata having

Naruto made a few good friends with Kiba Inuzuka, Shikamaru Nara, Chouji Akimichi. He also had the occasional conversation with Shino Aburame, but they were more like aquantinces. They all seemed to like the change in his personality, though Kiba was a bit upset that Naruto's move up in the ranks pushed him to the dead last rank. The newfound friendships turned out to benefit Naruto because members of those various clans started to respect him.

When Naruto wasn't training by himself or with Hinata he could be found at the Nara compound engaging Shikamaru in a game of shogi, eating large bowls of ramen at Ramen Ichiraku alongside Chouji, or helping Kiba and his older sister take care of dogs at the vet.

He seemed to have gained grugding respect from his other teachers that weren't Iruka. Iruka already acknowledged him so there was nothing to prove there. His other teachers tried to hinder his growth by by finding reasons to kick him out of the classroom when something important was being taught or they'd try to embarrass him by calling on him to answer questions they thought he didn't know the answer to, but he was smart and handled it all in stride.

In concerns to Sasuke things stayed the same except Sasuke became jealous of Naruto. The spars in the academy became even with Naruto winning some and Sasuke winning some. Sasuke had seen Naruto excel in all his subjects except for practical lessons in genjutsu, but for some reason Naruto stayed in middle in terms of class rank. When Iruka let some of the students come to the front and display jutsu they learned Naruto impressed everyone with some C and D rank wind jutsu. He must have been just barely passing his tests, but how could that be? Sasuke just knew that Naruto was holding back and it irritated him.

Naruto had tried to reach out to Sasuke seeing how they both had similarities but Sasuke always brushed him off.

Sakura's confidence and attitude seemed to change in reaction to Naruto's change. Sakura didn't want to admit it but Naruto's continuous advances had made her feel good about herself. Before mean kids would always make fun of her pink hair and big forehead and that made her shy. One day Naruto came up to her and asked her out. She politely told him no but he didn't listen. He started to pester her every day at school and slowly but surely her confidence grew. No one but Naruto and her parents ever made her feel good about her looks. Now the only boy who gave her compliments and asked her out acted as if she didn't exist. Instead choosing to turn his affection to Hinata Hyūga, although he probably didn't view their friendship in a romantic sense. But that is how it seemed to Sakura. Naruto was always there to cheer Hinata up when she seemed down or to cheer her on in fights. Sakura even heard that they trained together outside of the academy. She wish she had that kind of relationship. With Sasuke of course not with Naruto. There was no way she'd ever want to be caught dead with that loser.


	12. Chapter 12

Today was the day! It was the day of the final exams for the ninja academy and Naruto was excited. After he passed his exams he would then be one step closer to being a ninja.

No more boring and repetitive classes. No more spending the day with fan girls that squealed over their precious Sasuke. No more dealing with parents that liked to side eye him and warn their children to stay away from him. Soon all of that would be over.

Naruto faced 5 seemingly long but short years of his stay at the academy. He came a long way from the lonely 8 year old who was enrolled there. Looking back then he hadn't learned much. All of his teachers with the exception of Iruka seemed to have it out for him by hindering his learning. He only really started to improve by self-study through the small library in the Tsuru clan house he stayed in and the village library.

Relations with the village had improved, but mostly with the Shinobi populace. Once he stopped acting like a goof and started acting like a true ninja they started to respect him.

Surprisingly the Hyūga clan members treated him fairly. The clan head even invited Naruto for training and dinner afterwards from time to time. That was only due to his positive influence on his daughter. Her skills had improved significantly and she no longer stuttered. Hinata was becoming the future clan head that her clan approved of. Little did her father know that as soon as she took over she planned to change the clan.

Hinata didn't like how divided her clan was and planned to unify it. It was unfair that half her clan had to be branded with a seal that the other half could activate at any moment. The seal was called the caged bird seal and it was meant to prevent enemy nin from stealing their byakugan, but it also could be used to torture the one who wears the seal. It was completely unfair that only the branch house had to get this seal. What about the other half? This ridiculous rule almost blew up in their faces when Hinata was kidnapped as a young child. She was a main house member and thus had no seal. If the enemy nin had succeded Hinata would have possibly been used as a brood mare and had her eyes stolen for the use of another ninja village named Kumo.

What is the clan supposed to do if a main house member goes missing in battle? This was a possibility that her father never discussed. If he wouldn't try to fix things then she would when she finally had enough skill and could take his place.

She voiced her concerns to Naruto who had become a close confident to her. He agreed whole heartedly with her.

Naruto was sure that he would pass the genin tests with flying colors.

Naruto made his way into his home room and sat in between Kiba and Hinata. He bumped fists with Kiba and nodded to Hinata. This was gonna be a piece of cake.

The door to their classroom opened and both Iruka and Mizuki entered the room.

"Today is the Graduation Exam. It will be consisting of 5 tests."

Mizuki took over. "First you will all have to spare against me. You only have to last a minute against me."

"Then comes the genjutsu test. You will all be put under a genjutsu and have to escape it quickly. You will be timed on how long it takes for you to escape it."

"Lastly you will have to perform three E-rank jutsu. The substitution jutsu, the transformation jutsu, and the clone jutsu." At that last part Mizuki made eye contact with Naruto and smirked.

They were all brought out to the training ground for the Genjutsu and Taijutsu portion of the exam.

The genjutsu test was easy enough. He has never been good at casting a genjutsu, but he was good at figuring out when he in one and could break himself out of the genjutsu. He ended being the placed 5th as to who the fastes people were when breaking from a genjutsu.

They then moved on to the taijutsu portion. Mizuki was particularly rough with Naruto when it was his turn to fight, but he handled him easily by delivering a jab to his eyes and stomach.

Students rested as the others did their turn before they all made their way back to the classroom to wait for their bames to be called for the jutsu portion. When it was Naruto's turn he was called into another room with Iruka and Mizuki.

"First is the henge jutsu," said Iruka.

Naruto nodded and transformed into the third hokage.

"Good. Now the kawarimi jutsu."

Naruto did the hand signs and substituted himself with a log they had set in the room.

"Excellent"

"Now perform the bunshin jutsu" Iruka said with apprehension.

Naruto did the seals for the wind clone jutsu and 5 perfect clones appeared in a swirl of wind.

"That isn't the standard bunshin," Mizuki uttered after getting over his surprise.

"No, they're wind clones. It doesn't necessarily have to be the academy standard clones does it?" Asked Naruto.

"No but-"

Iruka cut Mizuki off. "I doesnt matter what type of clones they are as long as they are complete and perfect clones. Congratulations Naruto you passed," said Iruka as he gestured for Naruto to pick up one of the forehead protectors.

Naruto picked up a protector with black cloth, bowed to his sensei, and walked towards the exit.

Before leaving he turned to Iruka and asked. "You remember your promise right?"

"Yes, your lunch tab is on me today."

"Great see you at Icharaku's at five."

"Good bye paycheck." Iruka muttered and dropped his head sadness.

Hinata was waiting outside of the classroom for him.

"Congratulations Naruto-kun, I new you would pass."

"Congrats to you too." Naruto said before tying the protector around his forehead.

Hinata turned when she heard someone calling her name. It was her caretaker who usually escorted her to the academy.

"See you tomorrow training Naruto," she said before running to her guard, Naruto thought his name was Ko or something. Yeah that seemed about right.

Ko nodded to him before escorting Hinata home.


	13. Chapter 13

After eating a ton of ramen at Iruka-sensei's expense Naruto made his way back to the Tsuru compound.

He was nearly knocked to the ground by Itsuki, one of his classmates. Luckily the boy slowed down before he ran into him.

"Oh hey Naruto. Sorry for almost running into you. Gotta go." Itsuki said before he shot off again. This time Naruto followed him.

"Where are you off to so fast?"

The guy was silent for a few minutes before speaking up.

"Look I probably shouldn't be telling you this but Mizuki-sensei gave me a secret test".

"A secret test for what? There shouldn't be anymore tests. You passed the exam right?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, but I'm pretty low in the class rankings. He said if I did this one task then I could win rookie of the year. If I won that then I'd have bragging rights and all the girls would be flocking to me."

"Well okay, but where are you even going? The academy is nowhere near here. Wouldn't it make more sense to meet him back there?"

"No, no, no, he wanted me to take a scroll and meet him at a clearing in the forest."

"Just you and him?" Asked Naruto.

"Yes"

"Alone together in some random clearing in the forest?"

"Yes", Itsuki answered doubtfully.

"Do you hear yourself right now?"

"Look he's our sensei we shouldn't question him".

"Shouldn't we? This doesn't sound right."

"Well this isn't your mission so just go home if your so scared look were here already."

Naruto looked around so he could memorize his surroundings before saying anything. "Well we're here where is Mizuki?"

"He told me to wait." Itsuki answered.

"Fine"

Itsuki took out the scroll he had hanging on his back and opened it.

"Might as well get look at what I took," he said opening it up.

Naruto sat down and looked at the scroll with him.

"Did he tell you what was supposed to be in the scroll?"

"No, he just told me the name of it. It's called the scroll of seals."

"Hmm, shadow clones sound interesting, wait this needs too much chakra," Itsuki said.

He then unravelled the rest of the scroll and looked at something else.

Itsuki look over the rest of the scroll while Naruto stayed focused on the shadow clones. It sounded better than his wind clones because of the memorization process. Naruto read some of the info describing the clones before he started memorizing the needed hand signs for it and even took out some spare paper to copy them down for later review. He then looked over other jutsu.

"I can't use any of these jutsu! They all need too much chakra," said a frustrated Itsuki.

Itsuki looked over to Naruto. "Are you taking notes? Don't know why your even trying. I doubt a jonin could even use these techniques. No wonder the hokage had this all to himself."

"What did you say?" Naruto asked.

"I doubt a jonin could even-"

"No no the last part."

"Oh, I said the hokage had this all to himself."

"Did you take this from him?" Asked Naruto.

"Yeah it was part of the test. To see if I had enough stealth to get by the hokage himself. It was actually pretty easy. I let loose a ton of rodents and bugs in his house. Were talking rats, squirrels, bees, roaches, spiders..."

"I'm getting a bad felling about all this. Mizuki-sensei had you steal a scroll full of jutsu so powerful that only a person with a lot of chakra could use and meet him alone in the forest of all places."

"Now the you say it like this outloud-"

"Did Iruka sensei know about this? Do your parents even know about this?"

"No, Mizuki-sensei called me back into the classroom after my test. I was th last one to go."

"I think you should tell them. Go back to the village and tell them and whoever else you run into that's a ninja."

"Shouldn't you come with me?" Itsuki asked nervously.

"No, we could end up crossing Mizuki only for him to see us with the scroll. I'll run off and hide else where. Wait put on me hoodie so you look like me if he runs by you. Keep the hood up and run back quickly. Tell them I'm hiding in the forest."

The boy shakily nodded and ran off.

After he ran off Naruto ran deeper in the forest and hid. Itsuki could be gone for a while so he continued to look through the scroll. He ended up having his attention caught by a image that looked a lot like the one he once saw appear on his stomach.

Reading over the writing he found out that it was a seal called the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style. It was a powerful seal created by the Uzumaki clan a clan that Naruto never even knew existed. Could he belong to that clan?

The seal was actually a combination of two seals called the Four elements seal which was used to seal a target into a object or human body. Why was this on him. Who or what was sealed inside him? None of this was adding up.

Knowing that Naruto would have to return this to the hokage at the end of the day he quickly took out another spar blank scroll and started copying everything about the seal for later reading.

Naruto had copied all the information he needed before he even heard anyone come by.

He didn't come out of hiding immediately because it could've been Mizuki.

"Itsuki! Itsuki where are you?"

Wait that sounded like... "Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked, peaking out.

"Naruto? What are you doing here Where is Itsuki?" Iruka came looking for the boy when Mizuki reported that Itsuki stole the scroll of seals.

"I sent him back to get back up. Mizuki tricked him into stealing this scroll saying that it was a test or something."

"What?!"

"I knew it didn't add up so I had him run back and get help while I hid deeper in the- Hey look out!" Naruto said jumping backwards.

Iruka turned only to hit by a flurry of shuriken and kunai sticking him to a tree.

Mizuki came out through the trees. "I didnt expect to see you here Naruto. Doesn't matter anyway. Just give me the scroll."

"No way!" Naruto said bringing out some kunai for protection.

"Naruto, you can't let him get that scroll. Protect it with your life!" Iruka shouted.

"Let me tell you the truth Naruto." Mizuki said.

"What? No, don't!" Iruka shouted.

Mizuki continued. "12 years ago a demon taking the form of a fox rampaged the village and nearly destroyed everything. The ninja forces tried everything they could to stop it but nothing slowed it down. So the Yondaime who was the current hokage at the time decided to instead seal that demon away. That demon is you Naruto."

"No!" Iruka denied.

"Yes, your the demon that killed so many people that night including Iruka's parents. You didn't even know about any of this because of a rule the third hokage instated demanding that anyone that knew of your true form was to keep silent about the whole thing!"

Naruto stayed silent. So that's what was inside of him.

"Naruto don't listen to him. Your not the fox and I don't blame you for my parents' deaths." Iruka said.

"That's why all the adults hate and ignore you." Mizuki said with a smirk.

"No don't listen to him. That's not true!"

"Oh I know it isn't true." Naruto said.

"What?" Mizuki asked in shock. He expected the demon to become depressed when the truth came out.

"I know I'm not the demon fox. I'm just its jailer. That's why have that seal on my stomach. It's there to restrain the true evil you speak of."

"I won't listen to anything you say. Your just trying to distract me, but I won't let you! Naruto said while he began to form seals.

"Shadow clone jutsu" Naruto thought in concentration.

Suddenly the forest was filled with a hundred clones of Naruto

"Kick this traitors ass!"

All of the clones rushed at Mizuki.

Mizuki managed to fight off a couple before he was overwhelmed by the shere number of clones.

When they finally backed off Mizuki was a bloodied mess on the ground.

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. "Guess I over did it."

Iruka beamed at him in amazement.

"Naruto you simply are amazing. I have no doubt that you will be hokage one day. The most powerful hokage that ever lived."

"Thanks Iruka-sensei."

Suddenly a group of anbu appeared

One of them checked over Iruka while the other three secured Mizuki and the last one came over to Naruto

"Please come with me. The hokage would like to speak with you."

Naruto nodded. He gave one last wave to Iruka before he disappeared with the anbu.


	14. Chapter 14

As soon as they made it to the hokages office the anbu nodded to the hokage and promptly shunshined away.

"Hello hokage-sama."

"Hello Naruto."

"I kept the scroll safe", Naruto said laying the scroll on Sarutobi's desk.

"Yes, Itsuki rushed back to the village and told us you'd be hiding somewhere near a clearing he was originally supposed to meet Mizuki at. I am very proud of you. That was a brave decision to make."

Naruto didn't acknowledge him with a smile. Only staring back at him blankly.

"I presume there is something else that you'd like to talk about," Sarutobi said gesturing Naruto to sit so they could talk.

"Yes, Mizuki reveiled some shocking news tonight. Specifically what happened on the night of my birth."

"This wouldn't have something to do with a certain demon would it?" Sarutobi asked nervously.

"If you mean the kyuubi then yes."

Sarutobi gave a deep sigh and in that moment he seemed to age 10 years older.

"Naruto have to understand-"

"I know I'm not the demon itself and just the holder but what I don't understand is why. Why me? Why did the Yondaime choose me to seal the kyuubi away in?"

"Naruto-" Sarutobi started only to be cut off by Naruto again.

"I mean I don't know my parents or what they were like, but I'm pretty sure they would never want to give me up to the Yondaime so that he could use me as some demon's jailer. He must've taken me by force."

Minato would have never forced anyone to-"

"I don't know that though do I? He's dead. I never met him or known what he was like. I dont know the type of man he was. Besides, he was the Hokage at the time so I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been so hard to take me from my parents."

Sarutobi gave him a look akin to pity. Like he was some naive child that didn't know what they were talking about.

"Admit it old man! No good parent would ever have there child used in such a way. The fourth didn't have a lot of options and he didn't have anyone willing to have that demon sealed in them so he tried to take me away and my parents fought him to death. That's why I'm an orphan and jailer of the demon."

"Naruto that couldn't be further from the truth. I know your angry but-"

"You bet your ass I'm angry! I had no choice in this! I never asked to be the source of the whole village's hatred."

"He didn't have much choice Naruto."

"He did have a choice. Why couldn't he have sealed it into himself before he died. Then he could have dragged that thing to hell with him. Why a baby? Why me? Why was I so important to him? Was it because of my parents? Did they have some special ability that they passed on to me?"

"Because-"

"Because what?!"

"Because your his son Naruto!"

"What?"

"Yes, your are the one and only child of the Yondaime Minato Namikaze. He needed a newborn to be the holder since young children, especially babies don't have fully developed chakra coils and could survive and adapt to having a creature of that scale and power placed inside of them. He couldn't bare the thought of forcing anyone else to give up their child like that so he chose you instead. He never thought that you would have been treated so poorly. He wanted you to be viewed as a hero and savior of this village."

Naruto was silent for a moment before speaking again. "Well that was stupid. Just believing that the villagers would understand what happened and would treat me with kindness."

The Hokage couldn't really argue with that one. "You know your mother was the previous holder and jinchūriki of the kyuubi."

"Was she as hated as me?"

"No, no one but me, the elder council, and trusted people knew what she held."

"Why couldn't that be done for me? The majority of the village seems to know about my secret. Wouldn't it have been better to keep my identity under wraps like for her." Naruto would rather have had no one knowing who he was and being treated like some regular orphan.

"So many people saw the attack and they saw the nine tails disappear. Then me and a whole troop of Shinobi came upon the scene. Your parents were near death and you were crying on an alter with a fresh seal on your belly. It wasn't that hard to figure out exactly what happened."

"Oh."

"But I did try to help you as much as I could without making it look like I was blatantly favoring you. I made your status an S-Class secret. No one in your current generation knows of your status as jinchūriki and the villagers don't know of your true parentage. Your parents made many enemies during the war, your father more so."

"Who was my mother?"

"Her name was Kushina Uzumaki she was sent from her village of Uzushiogakure to become the new jinchūriki of the kyuubi. The first holder of the kyuubi, Mito Uzumaki who just so happened to be the first hokage's wife, was very old and didn't have that much time left."

"I'm seeing a pattern of Uzumaki jinchūriki here."

"Yes, the Uzumaki clan were a powerful clan known for their large chakra reserves, longevity, and mastery of sealing. They were so feared that surrounding villages banded together to destroy their land and exterminate them. The Uzumaki clan is as extinct as the Uchiha clan. That's why so few people know or talk about them. Your mother was a very skilled woman. So strong and fierce. Just like you really. She gained the title of the Red Hot Blooded Habenero for her red hair and fiery attitude."

"Your parents really did love you naruto. They died protecting you. I wanted to tell you so many times, but I needed to know that you could handle the knowledge."

Naruto slumped over in his seat and just cried. This is the first he's heard of his parents and he was so relieved to hear how much they cared for him. All these years he wondered about his parents. Wondering if they had died leaving and orphan or if they had just dumped him in the orphanage because they didn't want him.

Hiruzen walked around his desk, gathered Naruto in his arms, and comforted him.

They stayed like this for a long time. Pretty soon Naruto just passed out from stress and exhaustion.

The hokage ended up taking him home with him. He wanted to be there to talk with Naruto and make sure he didn't do anything rash.


	15. Chapter 15

The next day Naruto woke up with the sun shining in his face.

He yawned sitting up and stretching his arms out. That had been a good long rest he had. The best sleep he'd had in a week. When had his bed been this soft and comfortable? Wait a minute.

Naruto jolted in the bed when he came to his senses. The last thing he remembered was crying in the Hokage's arms so how had he gotten home? Naruto blushed remembering that embarrassing moment.

Looking around he realized this wasn't even his room. Where was he?!

"Hello there." Called a soft voice.

Naruto jumped out of the bed at the sound of new voice and settled into a fighting stance.

"There's no need for that. I didn't mean to startle you. I just heard you waking up so I came to check on you. Your in the Hokage mansion. My father in-law brought you here." The stranger explained.

The stranger in question was a woman who looked to be in her late 20s. She had dark blue eyes and black hair cut just below her shoulders.

"Your father as in the Hokage?" Naruto questioned.

"Yes, I'm Mikan. Now follow me please." The women said leaving the room and walking to another room around the corner.

"Here's the washroom. You can freshen up in here. Once your done just call my name and I'll take you to see the Hokage downstairs."

Once Naruto was done freshening up he called for Mikan and she led him to the hokage.

"So do you and your husband live here with him?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, he's getting old in his age and someone needs to watch over him." She replied. "It's us and our son, Konohamaru. I'm afraid you won't get to meet him today he's resting up. Poor boy has the flu." She explained.

"I'm not that old. I'm as strong as I've ever been!" The hokage shouted indignantly.

"Sure you are pops. We just feel better knowing that your safe." A man with light brown hair and dark eyes assured the old man.

Sarutobi waved him off and turned his attention to Naruto.

"Good morning Naruto. I see you've met Mikan. This is my son Reo." Said the Hokage.

The man stepped forward to shake his hand. "It's great to finally meet you Naruto. I hope you slept well I know having to process all that information must have been taxing."

Naruto turned to the Hokage raising an eyebrow. Had the old man told them his secrets too? They may be his family, but he didn't know them and had no reason to trust them other than knowing that they were the Hokage's family.

"We know your the Yondaime's son. You can trust us knowing your secret. Not only am I the hokage's son, but we both are also one of his most trusted confidents. More correctly his right hands." Reo explained.

Naruto only pursed his lips at that. What good did it do giving family members high positions.

"That wasn't out of favoritism. These two are very skilled ninja who have proven themselves worthy of their positions." The Hokage said.

"Would it help knowing that I was also one of your father's former teammates?" Asked Reo.

"You knew my father well?"

"Yes, I was one of his closet friends before he died. He kept his marriage to your mother a secret, but he trusted me with the knowledge. I wanted to adopt you, but the council was in charge and the villagers and elder council rejected my request along with the request of some other people."

Naruto bowed his head not wanting them to see his eyes getting teary. He'd almost been adopted. He could've had a family. He closed his eyes and shook his head. That's only what could have been. He need to focus on the present.

"So basically I am the heir to two clans. That's a lot to take in." He said to the Hokage.

"Technically three." The old man corrected him.

"What?"

"There was a reason I let you stay in that clan house. The Tsuru clan were close to the Namikaze clan. Many members married into each other's clan before both clans started dying out. The last member of the clan died in the kyuubi attack so the only one who could lay claim to their title and house is you."

Naruto nodded in understanding. It made way more sense than the original excuse the Hokage first gave him for letting him keep the house and everything in it.

"I should warn you the council might try to force you under the clan restoration act."

Mikan grumbled something about harems.

"Meaning?" Naruto asked the Hokage

"Meaning you'll have to marry multiple women so you can produce more children to carry on the clan legacy."

Naruto shook his head, waving his hands. "No, just no. I don't even have one girl that I like and incase you haven't noticed I don't have a lot of girls flocking to me like like that emo bastard, Sasuke."

The Hokage sighed and shook his head in exasperation. "I had hoped that you two would get along. Both your mothers were the best of friends before your mother's passing. She also knew of your true parentage and tried to adopt you after their death."

"Well I guess it juat wasn't meant to be. Did all the people who tried to adopt me know about my relation to the Yondaime?"

"No, just me and Mikoto. Everyone else were just ninja clan head's who just wanted to fulfill the Yondaime's request of treating you like a hero. But I do think some of them suspected your true parentage. They knew the villagers wouldn't treat you right and they wanted to protect you from the confines of their own clan compounds. They understood that a jinchūriki wasn't the demon itself and just its holder. Their was the Hyūga clan head, the Inuzuka clan head, and the Nara clan head." Reo said.

He chose to not speak about Danzō, the leader of Root, who requested to take Naruto into his care as well. The man only wanted Naruto so he could shape him into a weapon. The request has almost went through if it hadn't been for Sarutobi. He'd seen how Root agents turned out and refused to let his former teammate ruin little Naruto.

"Concerning your uncertainty about girls. You won't have that problem when your heritage is revealed. I plan to reveal your parentage to the village as a whole when you reach the rank of chunin. I want to be sure that you can protect yourself from enemy nin." Said the Hokage, changing the subject.

Naruto groaned. "Even worse I'll have girls who'll only want to take advantage of me for my clan titles. I refuse to be with someone who doesn't like me for me."

"Look you won't have to worry about any of this for a long time. You don't have to worry about this until you come of age. By then I'm sure you'll have found someone you really love and who loves you." Mikan assured Naruto trying to put his worries about marriage to rest.

"I hope so."

"Besides from what I here you already seem to have a fan of your own right now." Sarutobi teased the boy lightly.

"And who would that be?" Naruto asked.

"Oh I don't know. Maybe a certain girl with blue hair and white eyes."

"You mean Hinata? No, she's just a friend that I wanted to help out and by the way her eyes are more lavender than white. Naruto corrected the man."

Mikan giggled alittle. Just a friend he says.

"Okay let's change the subject." The Hokage said. "I know you were with the scroll for a long time so you must have had enough time to learn some jutsu."

"Well just the shadow clone jutsu, the rest I of the time I studied information about the seal used to seal the kyuubi away. I recognized it so I tried to learn more about it."

"Please don't tamper with the seal. It is very special so if it is weakened somehow only Minato could ever truly strengthen it as he was the one who performed the sealing."

"Don't worry I won't." Naruto didn't want to be one responsible for the Kyuubi returning and destroying the village all over again no matter how badly the villagers treated him.

"Well now that thats done its time to eat." Said Reo.

"What are you serving?" Asked Naruto.

"Hijiki seaweed salad, tamagoyaki omelette, and salmon." Said Mikan bringing out a special scroll that one could place food into to preserve the food indefinitely. It was actually a gift made by the combined effort of Kushina and Minato. She sat the food at the table for Naruto to see.

"Hijiki seaweed is one of my favorite foods Naruto you'll love it." Said Sarutobi before digging into his meal after a quick blessing.

Naruto stared at the seaweed in disgust. "No thanks I don't have much of an appetite right now."

"Nonsense your a growing boy. Hijiki is full of minerals and dietary fiber." Mikan insisted, her mothering instincts to provide for children kicking in.

"Nope, I'm good. Thank you anyways." Naruto said pushing his plate away.

"Well if your sure." She said with a frown. "Reo be a dear and go get Konohamaru's medicine. I'll take up his food."

"Well I should be going now. It was nice meeting you two." Naruto said, getting up.

"The pleasure is all ours dear."

"Remember Naruto, don't tamper with the seal and do keep quiet about your parentage and jinchūriki status. If you feel the need to tell someone about your secrets then that is your decision to make just be sure that those you tell can be trusted." The Hokage said placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"You got it. I'll be smart about who I tell."

"That's all I ask."

Later on at night as Naruto slept in his own bed again he dreamed of being raised by different ninja clans. Leading different lives raised around people who loved and protected him from the village members' hatred. What could have been.

To anyone wondering. I just made up the names for Konohamaru's parents. The managa and anime never went into depth about who Konohamaru's parents were. Only explaining that the two were skilled anbu members who were the third Hokage's right hands. The only pictures they had of them were of the couple in cloaks wearing their anbu animal masks.

First I planned on making the daughter Sarutobi's child and stating that she was one of Kushina's old teammates which is why I gave her the name Mikan which is Japanese and a well used female name. Sarutobi married a woman name Biwako whose name came from a plant that bared fruit. I thought it would've been clever, but then it thought of Minato's genin team photo and of his two unnamed teammates.

I didn't want them both having close ties to Naruto's parents so I went with the husband. I decided to keep the name the same in the end though. Reo is the kid on the left side of the team photo.


	16. Ships

Ships, Ships, Ships. Who should I ship Naruto with?

Maybe Naruto and Ino or Naruto and Hinata.

Maybe Naruto and Temari or even Naruto and Sasuke.

Maybe Naruto and Karin or Naruto and Haku.

Maybe I'll get you all wound up by shipping Naruto and Sakura.

Maybe I'll do what the elder council wants concerning the clan restoration act and have Naruto marry a bunch of women making up a harem.

Choices, choices, so many choices.

I thought it was pretty obvious, but since you guys haven't figured it out then I guess I'll just take this opportunity to tease all of you gracious readers and have you guessing a lot longer.

The title is No Time For Love. Right now Naruto is a young ninja in training striving to grow strong and prove to everyone that he is worthy of respect. He's putting love and dating to the side and focusing all his effort into becoming a ninja that his parents would be proud of. That isnt to say that I'll keep him alone and not have him in a relationship at all just that it'll happen later on in the story when he's older.

Like Mikan told Naruto. He doesn't have to worry about marriage and children right now.


End file.
